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Sun Feb 07, 2010 7:19 am

need some help ? was trying to remove ignition lock/ cylinder and discovered the housing is cracked- the metal cover that bolts in with 4 screws to hold steering wheel and lock cylinder. not sure what that piece is called ? Is this housing a one year only in the 68 bus ? it looks to me that the previous owner tried to hammer the cylinder out - idiot ? looked at other threads and didnt find a answer . thanks

Sun Feb 07, 2010 7:43 am

it might depend on if you have an early or late 68?

if your lucky it's a 68-70 part. can you post a pic?

Sun Feb 07, 2010 7:58 am

have to wait till tommorow to take pic , is there a big differance between early and late 68 ? is the lock cylinders differant to for this year ? looking at the bentley book and thats no help at all .

Sun Feb 07, 2010 8:50 am

the lock cylinder itself should be a 68-70 part.
i can't remember if the housing changed in mid 68.

wait for someone like busdaddy who knows this type of stuff for sure.

or...send a PM to peaceful warrior. he's got a few 68s for his resto that he's parting.

Sun Feb 07, 2010 9:17 am

It all depends on how early your bus is, if the housing bulges up over the lock unit it's the rare one. The later ones that are flat on top will fit as an assembly but there will be a gap between the dash and column. Here's a bit of reading with pics that may help:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=280056&highlight=ignition+lock

Sun Feb 07, 2010 10:33 am

I have two of the early bulging ones, and one or two of the flat ones.
If you need a bulging one, it will have to wait a bit, as we are expecting 2 days of snow, and I have not removed them from the buses yet.

Sun Feb 07, 2010 12:47 pm

borninabus wrote: the lock cylinder itself should be a 68-70 part.
i can't remember if the housing changed in mid 68.

wait for someone like busdaddy who knows this type of stuff for sure.

or...send a PM to peaceful warrior. he's got a few 68s for his resto that he's parting.
That housing is the same for 68 and 69 ( I have one of each) the lock cyl is the same for later at least to 72 that I know of maybe later but the colum lock part is only for 68/69 (the humpback housing) and the post by busdaddy is how to get it apart. Man I tell you I seen to see alot of holes drilled in bus housing it's not that hard to figure out and by the way I need one of those 68/69 housing for that same reason.

Sun Feb 07, 2010 3:37 pm

Thanks , so now I know why the po beat the crap out of it and put in a external switch , is it worth all the trouble to get a new cylinder and wire it up ? I have the housing off and don't plan on putting the broken one back , is it a pain to rewire ? If I can get the wires I need ? Need positive feed back , now that I have a broken bus

Sun Feb 07, 2010 5:31 pm

I'd say the switch is easy to install and wire but I haven't seen what the PO did to the rest of the wiring so that's an open ended statement :?

Sun Feb 07, 2010 6:52 pm

I hear ya busdaddy , I'm going to have to disconnect the turn signal wires to get the housing off so Im under the dash already so will rewire ignition at same time , I've got a wiring diagram from a samba thread so I can find the wires , any tips or helpfully hints ?

Sun Feb 07, 2010 7:18 pm

Take out the dash cluster, wiring's no fun from below and the few extra minutes will make the whole job better.
Most of the diagrams are here and www.vintagebus.com has good ones too.

Sun Feb 07, 2010 10:13 pm

busdaddy wrote: Take out the dash cluster, wiring's no fun from below and the few extra minutes will make the whole job better.
Most of the diagrams are here and www.vintagebus.com has good ones too.
+2 on that its way better that way.